Category Archives: Andrew Lewman

Tor’s ex-director thinks ISS World gets a bad rap

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The man who was once in charge of overseeing Tor will soon turn to law enforcement in order to explain how to de-anonymize the service’s users. Andrew Lewman, once revered as a giant in the world of hacking and privacy activism, is slated to headline the ISS World conference in Malaysia, a controversial surveillance tech and government trade show that features hacking heavyweights like Italy’s Hacking Team, Germany’s FinFisher and Israel’s NSO Group. Lewman will be attending as vice president of dark web intelligence firm DarkOWL (previously OWL Cybersecurity). Although it’s one of the most contentious conferences in tech, Lewman says ISS World isn’t nearly as bad as it’s made out to be by critics. “I don’t think ISS World is controversial at all,” he said. “I think it’s a training exercise. If you’re working with law enforcement, that’s where they go to learn about the cool new technology.” “It’s like RSA for law enforcement,” he […]

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As cryptocurrencies grow, so does the demand to track their users

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If bitcoin is a roller coaster ride with dizzying heights and rapid drops, one thing is clear: The original cryptocurrency carnival keeps attracting new riders. The price is up, trade volume is rising and new money buys in daily.   As a result, the business of bitcoin surveillance is booming. Governments are just barely coming to terms with how bitcoin works, but they want track newer cryptocurrencies like Monero and Zcash that were designed for anonymity beyond what’s available with bitcoin. Elliptic, a United Kingdom-based financial technology startup, launched with one basic goal: Trace bitcoins, identify illegal activity and sell ongoing visibility to governments and private companies to track the currency’s movement. This is possible because bitcoin is inherently transparent, with every unique transaction published on a public ledger, known as the blockchain, that anyone can access. Successfully analyzing the blockchain has become big business. Police use Elliptic’s technology to investigate crime. […]

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Jeff Sessions made investors want to throw money at dark net intelligence firms

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When U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped in front of cameras and told the world about the international law enforcement operation that resulted in the bust of at least two multimillion-dollar dark net markets, investors’ ears perked up. OWL Cybersecurity is a two-year old Denver-based dark net intelligence firm currently closing a funding round. In the one week since Sessions and other federal law enforcement officials announced the AlphaBay dark net bust, OWL vice president Andrew Lewman says he has received a mountain of phone calls from potential investors. “Regardless of your politics, when Jeff Sessions stands up and says ‘the dark net is a concern, that gets a lot of attention,” Lewman said. “In the past two weeks, we’ve had all these people we’ve talked to in the past saying they didn’t understand it, didn’t know what it was come at us and say, ‘About that investment, are you still taking offers?’” […]

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